Shoeshine Boy Question
MikeyMo
Posts: 73 ✭✭
Never understood the reason for biting the coin since I was a kid. Anybody got an explanation? Probably not a good habit to develop at coin shows.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_coin
Wooden Nickles? If real gold you would leave teeth marks. So I was told by my late Dad, I asked him the very same question. True? I don't know, but this just reminded me of him, Thanks~
POST NUBILA PHOEBUS / AFTER CLOUDS, SUN
Love for Music / Collector of Dreck
Biting a gold coin was to authenticate it. Genuine gold coins were hard since they were alloyed with copper while counterfeits were soft since they were cast in lead and then coated with gold. If you could bite into a gold coin it was probably a fake.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire
Gold coins are soft enough for teeth to leave a slight impression. Just checking for fakes.
This forum is awesome by the way thanks for the replies. I figured the cost of a shoeshine would be minimal so that counterfeiting the payment would be a trivial savings. Again got way too much free time today. Thanks again you guys!
Now get out your shine box
EAC 6024
It's the same as kicking the tires.
The government is incapable of ever managing the economy. That is why communism collapsed. It is now socialism’s turn - Martin Armstrong
Always remove the coin first from the slab before trying to bite into it.
It's a Bitcoin
Bring on the chocolate coins.....
Cheers, RickO
My first thought was Underdog when "shoeshine" mentioned in the OP.
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If you broke you tooth, it was real.
Then you could spend it to get your tooth fixed.
Old GW had wooden teeth...did he just gum it?..
Don't forget that before WWII there were counterfeit silver coins being made and circulated. Real silver coins were far harder than the counterfeits which were made by casting in a mold using lead which is far softer than silver. Hence, the bite test also worked to authenticate silver coins.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire
Who knows where the idea of using one's bite to test the purity or validity of a coin came from ? You got me.